Cupcake Shower Cap

Hey all! What a humongous busy weekend I've had! I spent it at AVCon (Adelaide's anime, video gaming and cosplay convention), helping my friend Kelly with her stall, she sold many Lolita accessories, it was a great success! I promise some pictures soon.

I just wanted to post a quick photo of a present my darling sister Caitlin brought home for me from her recent trip to Sydney. She went over there with her school's orchestra to compete in nationals, and her school got GOLD! I am super proud of her!

I was so chuffed when she presented me with this awesome shower cap...

Isn't it the coolest!? Caitlin got it from a boutique store called 'Pretty in Pink', and I am so glad they have a website! I've been drooling over the gorgeous fabric prints, and I am pretty certain I will be getting one of the sun hats for summer!

Anyway, I hope you all had a swell weekend too! <3

Lemon 'Diva' Cupcakes

I am back! Did you miss me? hehe I have been away for a week puppy sitting. Two very energetic spoodles, who had a habit of getting very muddy while I was at work! It was hard work, but a good adventure. I have to admit it was good having a break from the internet, over the last couple of weeks I have realised I do tend to spend way too much time online, and think I will try and limit how much time I spend on my laptop in the future, its so easy to procrastinate in the online world!

Last weekend, my favourite radio station Triple J, played the 'Hottest 100 of all Time', a count down of songs voted by the public, it is only done once every decade. I urge you to go have a look at the list, I myself was pretty happy with many of the songs that ended up in it!

While listening to the line up of awesome songs, I made some Lemon Diva cupcakes that were made by Julie on an episode of Master Chef Australia a while back. Julie added the zest of 3 lemons to a basic cupcake recipe, and won the invention test with it! I was a little scared to use 3 lemons worth of zest, and was only brave enough to use 2, I thought it turned out with a perfect balance of lemony taste!

Also in the pictures is the very shiny tea set I scored from the car boot sale a couple of weeks back, with my fine bargaining skills, I managed to get the price from $40 down to $26! Sweet!

Lemon Diva Cupcake recipe - originally posted on the Master Chef Forums.

Ingredients

100g unsalted butter, softened
185g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla bean extract (I halved this)
2 eggs
200g self-raising flour
1/2 cup (125ml) milk
Zest of 2 Lemons (or if you are braver than me, 3 Lemons!)

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (160C fan-forced). Line muffin pans with paper cases of your choice.

2. Beat butter, sugar and vanilla bean paste with electric mixer until pale. Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat until just combined. Add the flour and milk in alternate batches and stir with a wooden spoon until just combined. Add flavourings of your choice, i.e. the lemon zest!

3. Spoon some mixture into paper cases. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until cooked through. Remove from oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Decorate as desired.

During my week off I finally finished off a very belated Birthday tote bag for my mum! I promise pictures soon! Hope you all have had a lovely weekend! <3

Cupcakes for Hillness

I am lucky enough to have remained friends with my high school girlfriends, we have been friends for over a decade now, and are still really close.

Now Hillness is a strange name you might think... but having two Jessica's in a group of friends is a little confusing , in an effort to make things a little less complicated, I was nicknamed B, and her Hillness.

Hillness - Such a gorgeous girl!

Hillness was the first of us who made the big leap and bought a house! We are all so proud of her, and perhaps secretly a little envious hehe. After much nagging, Hillness finally threw a housewarming party, and a fun one it was too! I offered to make cupcakes for the occasion, and Hillness chose the flavours...

Chocolate Raspberry Cupcakes, which I change a little to
Chocolate Cookie & Raspberry Cupcakes

Orange Blueberry Cupcakes, a slight variation on the
Lemon Blueberry recipe I posted

And finally I made a third batch, vanilla rainbow cupcakes
because every time I see rainbows, I think of Hillness!

The Chocolate Cookies & Raspberry cupcakes were adapted from a recipe in 'Crazy About Cupcakes' (Fittingly a gift to me from Hillness a couple of Birthdays ago!). They were quite tasty, so I would like to share the recipe with you:


Choc Cookie & Raspberry Cupcakes - adapted from 'Crazy About Cupcakes'
(the original recipe had a misprint in the method which I have corrected)

Ingredients

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 2/3 cups granulated sugar
3 large egg whites, at room temperature
2/3 cup chocolate cookies, lightly crushed
1/3 cup fresh or frozen raspberries (thawed on paper towel then lightly dusted with flour)

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Insert liners into a medium cupcake pan.
2. In a large bowl cream together the butter, sugar, and vanilla with an electric mixer until fluffy, about 3-5 minutes.
3. In a separate bowl mix together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
4. Add the dry ingredients to butter mixture. Mix until integrated. Stir in the milk. With an electric mixer on low speed, beat for 30 sec­onds. Turn the mixer up to medium speed and beat for 2 minutes. Add the egg whites. Beat for 2 more minutes. Carefully fold in the crushed cookies and raspberries, don't over mix.
5. Fill the cupcake liners three-quarters full. Bake for about 20 min­utes or until a toothpick inserted in the centre of cupcakes comes out clean. Cool cupcakes in the pan.

For the frosting I made a butter cream and added more raspberries to it, then topped the cupcakes with more crushed chocolate cookies.


So I just wanted to finish up by thanking everyone that visited my Mad Tea Party, and left such kind and sweet comments, and especially welcome my new followers, I truely appreciate your support! Also, thank you to my sister Caitlin for kindly lending me her new camera to play with lately!

I finally have an entire week off of work, and plan to sew my little heart out! I'll keep you updated! <3